Boxee officially announced today that live TV is coming to the Boxee Box, thanks to a new HD tuner dongle that will plug into the back of the device.

The dongle costs $49, and connects to your Boxee via the USB port. It'll be available in January 2012.

Last week, news of the live TV feature on Boxee leaked out. As we said then, we think it's a move in the right direction. An HD tuner will give you free access to network TV, where most of the best primetime shows, news, and sports appear anyway.

Couple that with streaming services like Vudu and Netflix, and you have a pretty good excuse to cut out cable or satellite for good.